Fate's Armor

Surprisingly enough, Twilight wasn’t the only one who decided to wear her armor on the very first day; her three other barracks partners also showed up in full training gear, bottles of Purity gleaming upon their legs. Twilight was equally glad that they were capable of rousing themselves to be on time; her brother Shining Armor had told many a story about strict instructors punishing an entire barracks when so much as a single one of them was late for morning muster. The four unicorns were still the first new students in the mess hall, although more and more began trickling into the spacious area in short order. While the mess hall was primarily used to serve food to the students, on the very first day of a new school year it also served as the location of the orientation for the newest students. Twilight herself stood patiently off to one side, in front of a massive armored stallion that was unmistakably a paladin instructor. The other four unicorn recruits lined up to the right of her, while the rest of the students lined up in front of various other teachers. Just by glancing around Twilight recognized the battlemage, air force, and infantry instructors; however there were just as many that she did not recognize. At the front of the growing assembly was the griffon hen who was unmistakably the headmistress, Loretta Vorazun.

Finally the great doors to the hall slid shut with a muted boom and the hushed conversations slowly died away. Ignoring the wonderful smells of breakfast emanating from the cook lines on the far left and right walls, Twilight stood a little straighter as the headmistress began to speak. “Welcome, first years. Welcome to Thors Military Academy.”

Loretta’s voice was powerful, carrying easily without having to raise her voice. “I know you are all eager to get some breakfast in you before starting your first day, but allow me to get this out of the way quickly. I notice that all of you have found your instructor for whatever military occupations you plan on following. This is good. These instructors are also in charge of the first class on your schedules, so each and every morning you will report directly to those teachers as soon as breakfast is done with. These classes will also act as your homeroom, so to speak, so it is there that you will find yourself spending a great deal of time whenever you are not partaking in other classes.

“Thors Military Academy prides itself on excellence. Perform well, and you might just find yourselves fast tracked into your chosen occupation quicker than the usual three years most spend within these halls. Perform poorly, and not only will you be here for longer than the three year term but you may be informed that any sort of life in the military is not for you. Thors was founded by none other than the original King Magnum centuries ago, and we have always striven to uphold his ideals. As such, I shall simply close this morning’s statements with his founding quote that eventually became our school motto: Arise, O youth and become the foundation that supports the world. Thank you.”

With that, the headmistress retreated. Twilight decided she liked her. Short, sweet, to the point, and far more practical than most nobility. There was a sudden explosion of sound as the first year students began their conversations again. Eager to avoid the worst of the crowds that were bound to start stampeding towards the food lines, Twilight broke ranks and darted towards the closest station. Nor was she the only one to do so. The instructor she and the rest of the paladin cadets had lined up in front of joined her. He glanced down at the young unicorn from the corner of his eye and winked. “Ah, I’m glad to see I’m not the only one with some decent common sense.” His voice was oddly soft for such a massive stallion, with rich undertones sprinkling his speech.

“Uh… I suppose so, sir.”

He chuckled. “No need to get all ‘sir’ with me right now. It’s too early in the morning still for all that nonsense. Name’s Mountain Ember. Instructor Mountain Ember if we’re getting fancy, but again, it’s far too early for that.”

“Cadet Twilight Sparkle, sir.” The response came automatically, although Twilight wasn’t entirely sure why she answered in the first place. This paladin wasn’t anything like she had imagined just looking at him.

“I know,” he said a bit gruffly. “Believe it or not, your name was the first to cross my desk when they first began assembling my class for this year. Not really surprising; top marks in everything the testers threw at you, and even in some they didn’t. What was surprising was you being a unicorn.”

“Is that going to be a problem, sir?” Twilight sounded off stiffly. It was one thing to endure it from random ponies in the halls. It was another entirely to get the same treatment from the teachers.

“By Celestia, I would say its not!” Ember’s voice grew several decibels louder, drawing the attention of a few students. “Look, I don’t particularly care what race you hail from. Far as I’m concerned, you’re a paladin-in-training and that’s all that matters. I’ll admit I was a bit concerned about your overall stature and posture. Unicorns aren’t usually able to develop enough mass to wear heavy armor, much less swing the longswords and shields paladins do. But looking at you there, in your full training kit, I can safely conclude that my concerns were rather baseless. I don’t know exactly how you managed it, but you were that armor more naturally than most cadets I get.”

“Oh… I’m sorry,” Twilight did her best to hide her sheepishness as a serving pony loaded up her plate with eggs and pancakes.

“For what? Assuming that I was going to be prejudiced against you? No harm, no foul. I imagine that you get this sort of thing quite a bit, to the point where you assume that everypony is going to see you that way, right?”

“Well… yeah. How many other unicorns do you see walking around with bottles of Purity strapped to their armor?”

“Well, you’d be the first actually. And the other three cadets that are also in my class would make the grand total up to four. However, I do feel like I have to head off your line of thought a bit: You won't have to expect this sort of thing from the instructors. Our job is to teach you everything you’re going to need to know once you actually get out there on the field. For paladins especially, the turnover rate is pretty high. Lot of graduates simply can’t handle the workload after a while. For that reason as well, most instructors will also turn a blind eye to the prejudice. It sounds harsh, but if you can come to grips with it while you’re still at Thors, it’ll be much easier to deal with once you get out there in the real world. We’ll intervene if it gets to be too serious, but just like with the non-ponies that grace these halls you’ll have to learn to deal with such things on your own. Understood?”

“Yes, sir. I don’t really mind other students or even random ponies in the streets, but… thinking about my teachers cutting me down gave me a little pause,” Twilight admitted.

Ember clapped her armored shoulder. “You’ll get there, Sparkle. Don’t hesitate to come to me if you think blood will be shed over it, though. Can’t have our students trying to kill each other. I’d better be getting to the classroom to get it set up. I’ll see you there soon, cadet.”

“Yes, sir!” The young unicorn saluted her instructor as he turned smartly and moved away. His words did give her some measure of comfort. She didn’t particularly care what other students thought of her, nor did she really need friends. All that mattered was that she completed her schooling as fast as possible so she could get out there into the real world, and prevent what had happened to her from happening to other colt and fillies. Twilight had learned the hard way that the world was a cruel place, filled with all manner of cultists and shadows under the bed. Paladins were trained and equipped to deal with such things. That’s all there was to it.

The rest of her breakfast passed rather uneventfully. She seated herself at a table along one of the back walls, and by doing so made it fairly obvious that she wanted to be left alone. She caught glimpses of the other unicorns she shared her barracks with, hanging around what Twilight assumed were members of the Mage Corps. Ordinarily she might have joined them if only to discuss magical theory, but she was already almost finished with her food anyway and didn’t see the point in moving. Scooping up the last little bit of syrup covered waffles into her mouth, the young unicorn sat back before glancing at one of the many clocks along the wall. She had five minutes before the bell for home room rang, so she grabbed her empty plate in her magic, placed it within one of the return receptacles, and exited the mess hall. She had spent a good portion of time after being accepted into Thors studying a map, and as such she knew exactly where the paladin homeroom was located.

Roughly halfway to her destination the bell chimed its deep gong, announcing that students had five minutes to get to homeroom before they would be counted as tardy. There was a distant rumble behind her, of thousands upon thousands of hooves moving from the mess hall towards their respective hallways and classrooms. The sound was then promptly muted as she stepped passed the sound dampening field over the doorway of her class. Instructor Mountain Ember had clearly just finished his own breakfast, and arched an eyebrow as Twilight entered.

“Punctual, eh? That’s good. Hate to say it, but fresh paladin cadets who are late on their first day almost never make it through training. My class this year is entirely made up of baby-faced recruits, so let's see who ends up being tardy on the first day. Feel free to pick a seat, since you’re the first here.”

Twilight murmured a quick thanks before taking a desk front and center. These desks had very clearly been made in anticipation of students being garbed in full armor, but Twilight still made a mental note to look into air cushion spells if she was going to spend any real length of time sitting at a desk while in her gear. Less than a minute later other students started filtering into the room, and to Twilight’s dismay, not a single one of them had chosen to wear their full armor. A few of them even snickered at seeing the unicorn sitting right in front of the instructor, looking as though she was expecting a fight. They also made a point of taking seats behind the object of their mirth, although that mirth did die somewhat as three more armored unicorn cadets took up station on either side of Twilight in the front row. One of them, an orange mare with a fiery mane, tossed something that was a cross between a smile and a smirk Twilight’s way. Then the second bell rang, and Instructor Ember stood up.

“Well now,” he rumbled, his voice far more imposing than it had been over breakfast. “Not a single one of my newbies was late for home room on their first day.” There was a soft murmur of pride that rippled throughout the room, and he was quick to nip it in the bud. “However, I am rather displeased by the very obvious lack of proper paladin attire.”

There was a distinct pause, before a nameless recruit towards the back spoke up. “What do you mean, proper attire?”

“You will not address me unless spoken to, recruit!” Instructor Ember boomed. “And as for your question, I see all of four members of my class that appears to be taking this seriously. Would any of you care to explain to me why you’re not in armor, recruit?” None of the others dared utter a word. “Let me make this perfectly clear to you, then: All day, every day, while you are enrolled in Thors Military Academy you will be in full armor while you are on school grounds. If you cannot handle the sheer weight of a full suit of armor from the very first day, you are not cut out for the paladin profession and I won't have any qualms about booting your sorry arses out the door. Do I make myself clear?”

“Sir, yes, sir!” The entire class chanted back.

“Well, at least I won't have any issues hearing you mice. However, this does put most of you at a slight disadvantage. Today I’m going to give you a lesson you won’t soon forget: school issued armor is ill-fitting and is one of the single most uncomfortable things you’ll ever wear! Now we’re going to the obstacle course. I was going to do this later in the week, but since most of my class doesn’t seem to be taking this seriously we’re doing it today. You have five minutes to get school-issued armor from the campus armory before I expect you to be at the course. And so help me, if any of you return to your barracks to retrieve your custom fitted gear you’re done. I’ll sign your discharge papers before the end of the day. Now get moving.”

((<<.>>))

Some time later, Twilight Sparkle and her class stood at the top of a very tall cliff, the entrance to the course. Calling it an obstacle course was a bit on the generous side, of course; in reality it was essentially a “don’t die” course. At the very bottom of the cliff, hundreds of feet below, was a veritable forest teaming with hostile life. Even so far above the forest, Twilight could hear the rattling growls of Timberwolves and whuffling roars of Manticore. These sorts of monsters were what paladins were often tasked with taking care of, so it was only natural that the cadets learned how to fight said monsters. And from what Twilight’s seen of Instructor Ember, he seemed to prefer throwing new students to the literal wolves and see how they shaped up. Injuries were fairly common, but as far as Twilight knew no deaths have ever occurred.

“So,” Instructor Ember began, pitching his voice to carry over the slight wind. “Your task for today is fairly simple. Get down there into the forest. Survive the forest. Do that, and you’ll make it back tomorrow. Any questions?”

Twilight was only partially listening to his words. A greater part of her focus was staring straight down, analyzing the best way to go about her orders.

“How do we get down there? Sir?”

“Figure it out, recruit. If you don’t, you fail.”

“But sir! We’re on top of a cliff several hundred feet into the air! It's impossible to even get down there.”

“That isn’t stopping her.” Ember gestured towards Twilight Sparkle. The mare in question had already deployed her shield, and she was still staring down into the canyon. Then abruptly, she leapt off the side of the cliff and plummeted straight down. A collective cry of alarm echoed from the rest of the class as they rushed over to the edge.

Twilight fell in a controlled manner, angling her head slightly to reduce wind drying her eyes. She saw her target rapidly approaching and adjusted her training shield at the last possible moment. There was a deafening CRACK as her shield slammed into the thick trunk of the tree she had picked out, her shoulder denting the defense piece as it followed her previously forward momentum. It stung a bit, but no more than anything else she had put herself through under Spitfire’s training regime. She continued to fall down instead of forward, until her hind hooves slammed into a lower, thick limb. She rested there for a moment, poised, before letting gravity take hold of her again. She slammed down right on top of an unfortunate Timberwolf, scattering the magical construct into drywood. She stood there for a moment, getting her bearings and rotating her shoulder a bit. She could have just teleported straight down, but Spitfire had taught her fairly early on to not immediately rely on her magic for everything.

She spared a quick glance upward. The other students were mere dots by now, and none of them seemed to have any idea how to get down there. A few of the pegasi cadets would probably end up flying the rest down, but that ultimately wasn’t Twilight’s problem right now. The unicorn about-faced and moved off at a steady trot. Home room was two and a half hours long, meaning she had about two hours to survive down here. She was fairly confident in her ability to do so; Spitfire had taken her on plenty of monster hunts before. This should be fairly easy.